Canola Oil in Pet Foods; Is it Healthy?

Many different brands of dog foods and cat foods have chosen to use Canola oil in their products; several even utilize the heart healthy claim provided to Canola oil by the FDA. However, a great deal of research shows Canola oil is anything but healthy.

The FDA provided Canola Oil a ‘heart healthy’ status in 2006. The heart healthy status was petitioned by the U.S. Canola Oil Assn., stating the claim may encourage food manufacturers (and pet food manufacturers) to substitute canola oil for other oils with less favorable nutritional profiles.

The Weston A. Price Foundation, calls Canola ‘The Great Con-ola’. http://www.westonaprice.org/know-your-fats/559-the-great-con-ola.html Authors Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig, PhD report that Canola Oil was developed because industry needed a cheap source of monounsaturated oils. In the 1980’s, the world was beginning to learn the health benefits of olive oil, yet for industry, there was not enough olive oil in the world to meet need, and olive oil was too expensive to use in most processed foods.

Rapeseed oil, predominately used in China, Japan and India, was a monounsaturated oil option; however, two-thirds of the fatty acids in rapeseed oil are “erucic acid”, associated with Keshan’s disease causing lesions of the heart. Canadian plant breeders developed a genetic manipulation of rape seed that greatly reduced the erucic acid. The new oil was introduced as LEAR oil, for Low Erucic Acid Rapeseed.

Realizing ‘rape’ nor ‘lear’ would present a healthy image, industry dubbed the new oil Canola for Canadian oil (most of the new genetically modified rapeseed at the time was grown in Canada). Canada’s Canola Council’s initial challenge was rapeseed was not a GRAS (Generally Recognized as Safe) food in the US. FDA GRAS status was granted in 1985 for Canola oil, for which it is rumored, the Canadian government spend $50 million to obtain.

The Weston A. Price Foundation article quotes numerous studies of the effects of Canola oil in animals; “These studies all point in the same direction–that canola oil is definitely not healthy for the cardiovascular system. Like rapeseed oil, its predecessor, canola oil is associated with fibrotic lesions of the heart. It also causes vitamin E deficiency, undesirable changes in the blood platelets and shortened life-span in stroke-prone rats when it was the only oil in the animals’ diet. Furthermore, it seems to retard growth, which is why the FDA does not allow the use of canola oil in infant formula.”

Despite an overwhelming amount of research, the FDA, provided the U.S. Canola Association the following health claim permission in October 2006: “Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about 1 ½ tablespoons (19 grams) of canola oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the unsaturated fat content in canola oil. To achieve this possible benefit, canola oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day. One serving of this product contains [x] grams of canola oil.” http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/qhccanol.html

Comments 4

Canola oil is actually made from a toxic plant. CANOLA is actually an acronym for Canadian oil low acid.

Go to the website and type in breathing.com and then Canola oil. Make sure you go to the breathing.com website.

Also, xylitol is now being put in peanut butter. Although okay for humans it is toxic for animals. I do not purchase my dog anything with canola oil or xylitol. If the ingredients say olive blend look for parenthesis and see if canola oil is in there. If it is not in parenthesis and only says olive blend then canola oil is probably in it. Also, Zukes treats is now putting olive blend in some of their new treats so look at the ingredients. Eventually they will probably be putting it in all the treats.

I no longer purchase any treat with peanut butter or pill pockets because to my understanding dog treats and food to not have to list all ingredients listed. I am be wrong but this is how I interpret things I read. Correct me if you feel I am wrong.